Marksmanship training using lasers instead of projectiles has been widely used in recent years, for reasons of both economy and safety. For instance, a machine gun capable of firing a thousand rounds of ammunition a minute can consume many thousands of dollars in ammunition in a single day of training, and also can represent a considerable hazard in the hands of an inexperienced trainee. There are similar cost and safety considerations in training personnel to fire artillery rounds like tank main-gun rounds that cost fifteen hundred dollars each, or air-to-ground, ground-to-ground, and ground-to-air missiles costing up to twenty thousand dollars each. It is necessary to train personnel to operate such weapons without actually shooting down simulated aircraft, such as drones or towed targets, or shooting relatively expensive tank targets. Therefore some sophisticated systems for simulating the lethality, accuracy, effective range, appearance, and even the sound of such weapons have been developed and are presently in use. These systems employ laser beams to replicate projectiles and pyrotechnic devices to simulate the actual weapons' audio-visual signatures.
These laser training systems are based on a microprocessor controlled laser transmitters coupled with inexpensive multiple sensor detection systems. The laser transmitters are mounted on the weapons they are simulating, and the detection systems are mounted on targets.
The laser transmitter transmits pulse coded messages which contain both "hit" and "near miss" information. Near misses occur when the shooter aims and fires close, but not in the lethal zone of a target, thus cueing the target that he has been located, nearly killed and that evasive maneuvers are required if he is to survive the encounter. This pulse coded laser also facilitates the preservation of weapon hierarchy, i.e., an M16 rifle can kill men, not tanks. Tanks can kill almost anything.
Another important aspect of laser simulation techniques is the tailoring of the transmitter and detection system to accurately portray the range, probability of kill and lethality zones of simulated systems. This is accomplished by controlling the type of laser, laser coding, and detector placement on the target.
The resulting training obtained is valuable in a tactical sense, but is not practical for training in the fundamentals of aiming and firing weapons. Range targets have evolved to be responsive to record the hits of actual ammunition, and presently exist in large numbers and in many forms that represent soldiers, vehicles and tanks. These targets sense being hit by a projectile with a vibration sensor that detects the impact noise signature that is propagated through the target structure. When the target is literally hit, a mechanism lowers the target out of the line of fire, indicating a hit to the shooter.
Many companies manufacture such targets as standardized military hardware. Nearly all of them use frequency selective vibration sensing transducers to record physical hit and actuate various responses, including target drop, smoke release, or erecting other targets. Nearly every military installation and many civilian gun ranges have many of this type of target.
There are several distinct disadvantages in such range operations. The hazard in firing live ammunition is present, and range accidents are not unusual. Live ammunition is also injurious to the targets, requiring patching to obscure past hits and permit scoring current hits, and also requiring structural repairs after repeated use. Another severe problem is that the target ranges for live ammunition firing take up a great deal of land. For instance, a tank round can travel 40 kilometers. This would require the range to have a 25 mile radius about the firing point, making the range 50 miles across.